COURSE CURRICULUM

This film course offers a comprehensive, practice-led journey through the art and craft of filmmaking, beginning in the first year with a focus on foundational skills and cinematic understanding. Students explore storytelling, genre, and film history through Contextualising Practice 1, and develop their creative capabilities in Making Stories 1, where they engage with the visual and aural elements of film through structured exercises. Documentary filmmaking is introduced in Creating Documentary: Observed Realities, where students work in teams to produce creative content while learning research, directing, and interview techniques. This is complemented by Creating Fiction: Imagined Realities, which enhances visualisation and staging skills as students collaboratively produce a short fiction scene. In the second year, the emphasis shifts to experimentation and refinement of technique. Contextualising Practice 2 introduces students to experimental filmmaking, encouraging innovation through a blend of theory, history, and creative production. Making Stories 2 deepens students’ engagement with fiction and documentary forms through creative challenges that question and expand conventional narrative approaches. In Collaborative Practice 1, students begin to develop their own artistic voice and contribute to team-based projects across disciplines such as directing, sound, and screenwriting. Study abroad students may also take Filmmaking 1 and 2, focusing on production and research and development practices. In the final year, students consolidate their learning through Contextualising Practice 3, where they undertake a dissertation or independent research project. Collaborative Practice 2 prepares them for industry by encouraging research, craft skill development, and external engagement. The culmination of the course is the Major Project, where students work with peers to either produce a short film or develop a screenplay, integrating storytelling with visual and sonic elements. This project showcases their creative voice and prepares them for careers in film, television, or broader media industries.